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| Marijuana plants on display at the 3D Cannabis Center in Denver on January 1, 2014. Marijuana is still illegal under federal law in the United States, forcing university researchers to seek federal approval for marijuana from outside the country. File Photo by Gary C. Caskey/UPI |
By Ray Downs, UPI
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration this week approved the importation of medical marijuana from Canada for medical research at the University of California San Diego Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research.
Although legal in many states, marijuana is still illegal under federal law, which limits the number of U.S. companies that are able to provide certain types of strains for medical use. And Tilray, the Canadian company that will be exporting UC San Diego's medical marijuana, produces the drug in a capsule form that researchers need to study its effects on Essential Tremor, a neurological that causes involuntary and rhythmic shaking.
Dr. Fatta Nahab, a neurologist and director of the Functional Imaging of Neurodegenerative Disorders Lab at the UC San Diego Health's Movement Disorder Center, said the research will be a "first-of-its kind trial of purified medicinal cannabis for a common neurological disorder."
"Until now patients have been on their own to figure out the efficacy, safety, and dosing of cannabinoids. This trial should help answer many of these critical questions," Nahab said.
While ET patients who currently use medical marijuana to treat their symptoms are figuring out their own doses, approved medications on the market have been known to not provide relief while producing disturbing side-effects.
"Tilray is proud to support this crucial research," Dr. Catherine Jacobson, Director of Clinical Research at Tilray, said in a statement. "If this study can identify cannabinoids as a potential treatment for patients suffering from essential tremor, we can conduct further research and potentially provide alternative effective methods of relief for the high numbers of patients with ET."
The DEA approval for the importation came just days after the U.S. House panel that oversees federal drug enforcement efforts approved a bill to require the Department of Justice to issue more licenses for medical marijuana research.
Before then, all marijuana for medical marijuana research had to come from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, based at the University of Mississippi, which has a limited amount and strains of marijuana.
However, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., criticized the move for not approving a U.S.-based company.
"Unbelievable...#DEA gives approval to import #cannabis compounds from Canada, while [Attorney General] Sessions is sitting on 2 dozen+ applications from domestic manufacturers. What happened to 'buy American, hire American'?" Gaetz tweeted Wednesday.
It's not clear if any of those companies had the type of marijuana UC San Diego researchers need for their study. But news of the deal to export its products to the United States caused Tilray's stock to jump 28.9 percent on Tuesday.
Over the past month, Tilray's stock has increased 400 percent.
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